The face behind the work: Durfee named NH Engineer of the Year

Friday

When Bob Durfee isn't engineering durable bridges that incorporate more modern materials like concrete and steel, he's working with something that has become his passion over the years: Wood.

Durfee, a Laconia resident and longtime covered bridge enthusiast, was recently named the 2008 New Hampshire Engineer of the Year by a jury of his peers in the N.H. Engineering Societies, although his work in the Lakes Region is probably unknown to those outside the municipal government realm.

The Gunstock Commissioner is probably best known for his work helping towns to secure the funding and plans necessary to make crucial bridge upgrades across New England.

Durfee, a founding director and a past president of Structural Engineers of New Hampshire, has been recognized for his efforts to encourage the training and mentoring of young engineers as an effective way to remedy the chronic shortage of experts in that field.

The 20-year resident of Laconia is a licensed professional engineer in eight states and has 30 years of professional experience in transportation and structural engineering.

Durfee — a science, physics and mathematics guru — said his interest in engineering began at an early age and he recalled days spent with his friends building tree houses in his native Newport, R.I.

He said his interest in bridge design began with a simple curiosity on how things are put together.

"When I was a teenager I would take apart cars and engines to figure out how they work," explained Durfee.

The man's interest in engineering saw him attending New York's Clarkson University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering. He later obtained a Masters of Engineering from Virginia Polytechnical Institute.

The Rhode Island resident said he found his way to New Hampshire when he fell in love with his wife of 25 years and decided that the Granite State was a beautiful place to live and raise a family.

He began his career with the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, where he worked for two years on a multitude of highway-related projects.

As a senior engineering manager Durfee has led the design effort for bridge, highway, roadway, dam, building and specialty structural projects and has managed transportation projects for state agencies in New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York.

Durfee's career eventually took him to the private sector, where he has worked to engineer smaller bridge projects in numerous communities around the state.

He said one of his biggest jobs is helping communities to get the funding they need to move forward with costly bridge upgrades that can greatly impact local taxpayers.

Durfee said even normal bridge upgrades can cost in the range of $700,000 to $1.3 million.

"That can be a lot of money for small towns. They might have 2,000 to 3,000 (residents) and only have a (total municipal) budget of $4 million to $5 million," explained Durfee.

The longtime engineer currently works for the Nashua-based Dubois & King Inc., which takes on bridge projects all over New England. He said his goal is to provide a product where his clients can "walk away" from an upgraded bridge and know it will last for at least 75 years without major upgrades.

While many might not know it, Durfee was among a group that helped re-engineer a refurbished boardwalk and railroad station at Weirs Beach in 1987 and he is currently working on a project with Laconia to upgrade a portion of that boardwalk near the beach's bathhouse.

However, he said his true love — at least careerwise — has been the preservation of New England's historic covered bridges.

Some of Durfee's covered bridge projects include the Ashuelot Covered Bridge in Winchester, the Cilleyville Bog Covered Bridge in Andover, the Swiftwater Covered Bridge in Bath and the Haverhill-Bath Covered Bridge, the state's oldest authenticated covered bridge. In 2002, his firm won a national award for his work on the Slate Covered Bridge in Swanzey.

Durfee is a purest when it comes to the historic structures and he noted that he is usually only willing to engineer upgrades to the bridges if they hold true to the original design, meaning he is tasked with putting together the bridges with huge wooden members and pegs as was done in the old days.

The engineer said he is amazed by the quality of the construction of the covered bridges, which were roofed to prevent them from rotting. He noted that many of the bridges originated as private overpasses that required travelers to pay tolls depending on if they were traveling by foot, with livestock or on carriages.

Durfee has spent a fair amount of time traveling around New England to experience the many different types of covered bridges.

"It drives my family crazy ... we always have to take a detour to check them out," said Durfee with a smile.

Durfee said many of the bridges were torn down in the 1940s and 1950s when more modern bridges were favored over historic preservation, but he said states like New Hampshire and Vermont still have many remaining because of a lack of funding that actually helped save them at the time.

When asked about what he likes about his job most, Durfee responded by saying it is his interaction with the people he works on projects with.

He said engineering has come a long way since the days when he first started with "slide rule" devices used to calculate measurements being replaced by calculators and eventually computer-assisted drafting programs.

Durfee said he has learned to evolve with the technology and noted that he will never lose interest in a career that presents constant challenges, whether they be financial or structural.

"I can't imagine being anything else but an engineer," said Durfee.

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